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Meetup Organizer Guide

Welcome! Thank you for your interested in organizing a Sketch community in your city. We’re thrilled to welcome you as a Sketch Ambassador. This guide will help you get started!

Thousands of designers, developers and other creatives attend Sketch events around the world each year. Organizing a Sketch community provides you with a great and fun way to meet like-minded people, get inspired, work together and learn from each other. There are many active Sketch meetups around the world that are hosted by motivated and passionate Sketch Ambassadors like yourself. Once again, thank you for your desire and enthusiasm to start a local design community!

Many of the meetups take place on a bi-monthly or monthly basis. Typical themes revolve around discussing tips and tricks in Sketch, discovering integrations, doing in-depth workshops on design or just hanging out with local designers and talking shop. You’re free to structure your meetup as you and your local community wishes, and we’re happy to provide you with the tools and guidance to make it fun and successful.

Here are a few ways, we’d love to support your efforts:

We will provide you with an organizer account on Meetup.com, where we take care of the fees and allow you to organize your community and events for free.

Swag box! Yes we will send you a box with fun swag you can distribute to the attendees.

We’ll send you and your co-organizers Sketch T-shirts.

We’ll be happy to provide a number of licenses that can be raffled out to the attendees.

We’ll and help spread the word to the whole Sketch community via our social media channels.

Do you provide swag and how fast does it arrive?

Yes, we will be happy to send you a box of swag for your community and events. Please give us enough warning so we can get it to you on time. Within the US, shipping can take up to two weeks and international shipping can take a bit longer. For international packages, we mark packages as gifts, value $0.

The box of swag could include stickers, buttons, pencils, t-shirts, notebooks, cards and more. It depends on what’s exciting at the moment.

What website can I host/organize my community on?

We’ll provide you with an organizer account on Meetup.com where you will be able to start your community and host events. Here is a list of our current communities: https://www.meetup.com/pro/sketch/

Can I use the Sketch logo?

Yes, you may use the Sketch branding to design a creative for your community. All we ask, is to stick to our Sketch Meetup Guidelines Template. We keep the right to review your design and request a change if it’s inconsistent.

Do I need to provide Sketch with anything after events?

We would love to see pictures from your events and hear how the event went. We might send you an automated survey, We might also share the pictures with the rest of the community.

You mention Sketch license raffle, how does it work?

We support communities by providing a number of licenses to be raffled out to the attendees. We will be in touch with more info on this exiting perk, as you build your community page
and announce your first event.

How do I get started with organizing my first event?

After your application to become an organizer has been approved, you will receive an invitation to start building your community page on Meetup.com. There you will be able to start organizing your first event.

To view an example of an active Sketch community, check out the other meetups on our Global Meetup Page.

How can I find a venue or a sponsor for food and drinks?

Many of our local organizers are able to secure a venue and sponsorship for food and drinks by contacting local companies that have available spaces, or have a habit for sponsoring such events. We’ve found that many tech companies and design agencies are eager to host meetups. If you need help locating a venue, securing food and drinks, we would be happy to assist you.

How often should I organize an event?

Many of the meetups meet on a bi-monthly or monthly basis. You’re free to structure your meetup as you and your local community likes, and we’re happy to provide you with tools and guidance to make it fun and a success.

What topics should I discuss during our meetups?

Organizing a Sketch community provides you with a great and fun way of meeting other likeminded designers, as well as to be inspired and to learn from each other. Many of the Sketch meetups meet to discuss tips and tricks in Sketch, discover integrations, do in-depth workshops on design or just to hangout with local designers and talk shop. Some even host design competitions. You’re free to design your meetup as your community enjoys. We’d be happy to provide you with ideas if you’re not sure how to start.

You can also review the list of other communities on our Global Meetup Page. and their events for inspiration.

Do members of the Sketch team travel to events?

In the past members of the team have traveled or visited meetups near them. We’ve participated in meetups around the world in Copenhagen, Los Angeles, Washington DC, London, Amsterdam, Madrid, Munich, Ljubljana and more. If you’d like to invite a member to your meetup please send us an email and we will try our best to make it happen.

Do you provide any discounts for attendees?

We’ve an educational discount that we would love for you to share during your event. We provide a 50% discount for students and teachers. In addition, Sketch is free for academic institutions. You can learn more info in the Education Store. If you’ve any questions please send us an email and we will be happy to help you.

What am I not allowed to do?

By organizing a Sketch community, you acknowledge that you’re acting as an individual from our awesome Sketch community, and not as an employee of Sketch. Please don’t express or imply that any statement you make are endorsed by Sketch without our specific prior written consent.

We reserve the right to suspend your community on Meetup.com if we feel you have misused the Sketch brand, behaved in ways which could be regarded as inappropriate or have engaged in conduct that is unlawful or illegal.

If I have a question, how can I get in touch?

Steps to Building a Sketch Community

Congrats on getting started with organizing a Sketch community in your city. Let’s get started!

Your Community page

Please follow the invite link we send to your email to get started building your community on Meetup.com.

Setting up the design, description and sponsors

This is your canvas! Feel free to unleash your creativity and design your creative and write a description. You can find the tools to do this under Group Tools > Group Settings. You may use the Sketch branding but all we ask, is to stick to our Sketch Meetup Guidelines Template. We keep the right to review your design and request a change if it’s inconsistent.

Browse through the settings and tabs to figure out all of the tools that are available to you, such as composing a welcome message for new members and creating polls.

We’d love it if you add Sketch as a sponsor via the Sponsors tab. For offering you can add “Software and Swag” and you can find our logo here. This tab will be handy in the future to add more sponsors as your community grows.

For an example of an active Sketch community, check out the other meetups on our Global Meetup Page.

Organizing your first event

Here are some tips to get you started. You can also find these tips in the templates within your meetup group:

Event Title: Make sure it’s an event that describes what you will be doing, i.e. Sketch Meetup #1, or Sketch and Marvel App Workshop, Sketch Tips and Tricks

Time and Date: Set a time and date that’s convenient for you and local designers. Take into consideration venue, time to travel to venue and when local folks get off work. Best days for events seem to be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Set an Agenda: Spell out when you’ll start, time for networking, time for the discussion/demo or talks by speakers and when the event will end.

Prizes: If there are prizes, it’s a good idea to thank the sponsors in the body of the event as well as provide attendees with info on prizes.

Set a capacity: Don’t forget to set a capacity for the event based on the venue. Take into consideration that usually 20% of the sign up list will not show up.

Event checklist

Pre-Event

Create a Meetup page for your local community

Choose a topic, pre-select a date and time for your event and make a draft